Mixed NICE views on Faslodex and RoActemra

There was mixed news this morning from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), when the agency published final guidance on AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) breast cancer drug Faslodex (fulvestrant) and Roche’s (ROG; SIX) RoActemra (tocilizumab) in young children.

The final guidance for the National Health Service in England and Wales, which confirms a previous guidance (The Pharma Letter November 10), concludes that Faslodex does not work significantly better than existing treatments, and so its widespread use on the NHS would not be an effective use of resources.

Although AstraZeneca estimated that fulvestrant could extend life when compared to using the aromatase inhibitors currently prescribed, anastrozole and letrozole, the NICE’s independent committee found these estimates to be considerably uncertain. The Committee concluded that it had not been given any conclusive evidence that fulvestrant extends life or delays tumor progression any more than aromatase inhibitor therapy.